Minnesota asks ISPs to block gambling sites

Minnesota officials are trying a novel tactic to block online gambling sites — using a federal law that enables restrictions on phone calls used for wagering. The state's Department of Public Safety said Wednesday it had asked 11 Internet service providers to block access to 200 online gambling sites. The state is citing a federal law that requires "common carriers," a term that mainly applies to phone companies, to comply with requests that they block telecommunications services used for gambling. But Internet service providers are not common carriers, meaning it's unlikely that a court would compel an ISP to comply with Minnesota's request, said John Morris, general counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington. Morris also noted that the law appears to apply to phone companies directly doing business with bet-takers. But online gambling is already illegal in the U.S., so gambling sites are based overseas and U.S. ISPs have no direct links to them.